


Father of All

by occultclysms



Series: Father of All Motherfuckers [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Divorce, First Kiss, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Kissing, M/M, Teenage Rebellion, Vaping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:48:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27485296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/occultclysms/pseuds/occultclysms
Summary: The summer before Mark's senior year in high school, his parents get divorced, stripping away their attention from him to divorce affairs. Mark isn't ready to accept it, so he falls onto the path of rebellion with Yuta, a boy in his art class.
Relationships: Mark Lee/Nakamoto Yuta
Series: Father of All Motherfuckers [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2008501
Comments: 4
Kudos: 45
Collections: NCT Bigbang Round 1





	Father of All

**Author's Note:**

> general preface-- this work is apart of a series, so if the story feels like its hinting at these other things that happen, then dw those things will come up in other fics ! there's also a tag for referenced drug use on this, so be mindful of that. tags will be different on different fics, so read them all please
> 
> this whole series is based off the album of the same name by green day which i highly recommend to listen to while reading! since this is also a part of nct big bang, fics will be posted every few days over the course of a month. this is the first one and the next one will be coming out on tuesday (nov 17)
> 
> and on that note, thank you to shreya for running this fest and being such a great mod. a big thank you as well to brooke, my lovely beta who just takes all the random things i throw at her during all hours of the night <3 love you guys

August 5th, 2020 

“Mark.” Mark pulls his headphones off and comes to the top of the stairs where his parents are looking up at him from the bottom. “Can you come down here?” Mark’s gut fills with anxiety. Even though he’s done absolutely nothing to get in trouble, whenever his parents want to talk it feels like he is.

“Yeah, sure,” Mark replies, walking down the stairs, trying to think about what this could be about. It could have to do with college apps, but Mark finished all of those early. All he has to do is wait and see if he’s accepted.

“Sit down,” His mom directs and Mark takes a seat on the couch while his parents sit across from him on a loveseat. Mark fiddles with his fingers.

“What is this about?” Mark asks, chewing the inside of his cheek. It can’t just be college apps as both of his parents look sad. Did grandma die? Has Mark been expelled from school? Do they have to move?

“Your mother and I are getting a divorce,” Mark’s dad says and that’s it. Mark’s world is completely thrown in it’s axis. Everything shifts and Mark feels the breath get knocked out of him. Nothing could have prepared him for this. His parents don’t even fight, why on Earth would they get divorced?

“We just want to say that we still love you very much,” Mark mom consoles, but that isn’t in question here. Mark is freshly turned eighteen and understands in technical terms how divorce works. “Your father and I still care for each other, but it’s not love anymore.” Mark stares at his knees. They’re being overly formal for no reason which makes Mark hate this situation a bit more.

“How does this affect me?” Mark asks. This is his senior year of high school, so in twelve months he’ll be in college somewhere as many as three thousand miles away. 

“In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t.” Mark’s dad looks to Mark’s mom for a moment before continuing. “We are still going to keep the house, you and your mom will stay here and ideally next month I’ll move out. You can split your time however you want as I’m going to rent a two bedroom.” Mark nods mindlessly. 

There’s always been this image in his mind where Mark graduates college with honors and both of his parents are there to cheer him on as he graduates. And he’s sure that they still will be there, but it’s not the same. Like showing up with someone to an event versus showing up alone and running into someone that may or may not have been there. 

“Can I take some time to think about this?” Mark asks and both of his parents nod. Mark swallows harshly and walks back upstairs. He’s sure that there is a lot more to talk about, but it feels like his family unit is broken. A small part of him is grateful that Mark’s parents didn’t force themselves to stay together and then let that turn their marriage rotten. But that’s not what Mark is focusing on right now. 

Mark walks into his room and closes the door, slipping his headphones back on, but changing what he’s listening to to better match his mood. My Chemical Romance. Something Mark thought he outgrew at age thirteen, but it really strikes a nerve within Mark now as well.

He lays down on his bed, headphones in, and stares at the ceiling until his eyes slowly close. Everything is so stressful, so Mark struggles to even drift to sleep once his eyes close, but eventually sleep comes.

August 17, 2020 

The first week of school is a form of hell for Mark. Without the watchful gaze of his parents, he doesn’t have to have such an intense extracurricular schedule which is a small bonus to this divorce. Mark still signs up for student council though because he genuinely enjoys it, but Chess Club can suck it. No offense to people who like chess. Mark literally became the best chess player on campus for literally no reason other than his parents thought chess would round him out.

So when week two starts, Mark is expecting something to happen. He doesn’t know what, but it’s the first real week of school where Mark doesn’t have his parents hawking over him. Having so much freedom is almost scary in a way.

Mark is in Art 1 this year because even though he’s taken four years of band, which satisfies the fine art requirement to graduate, but art is something he should at least take once. And sure, whatever. It’s an easy class, so it’ll at least be a break for Mark from his APs.

The teacher is very pro group-collabing on art which goes against what Mark thinks about art, but he supposes if the class didn’t teach him anything it wouldn’t really be a class. So Mark is paired with Yuta Nakamoto. Just from looking at him, Mark knows his parents wouldn’t want the two of them interacting.

Yuta has an undercut with white hair, more metal in his ears than flesh and a few small tattoos that look self done. He wears a leather jacket and while he’s quiet during class, he seems like the kind of kid with a bad attitude. For all Mark knows, Yuta could be a communist.

That’s such a dumb thing to get excited about, but Mark is a closeted gay and Yuta is the personification of his dream bad boy. So it really isn’t surprising that Mark is feeling a bit of gay panic when Yuta walks over to him and sits down.

“Hi, you’re Mark, right?” Yuta asks and Mark nearly shuts down, his voice is so pretty and he says Mark’s name in such a way that sets Mark aflame. The windows shutdown noise plays on loop in Mark’s brain and he shoves it away so he can act like a normal person.

“Yeah, I’m Mark,” Mark replies, hoping he isn’t blushing as much as he thinks he is. There’s no guarentee that Yuta is even gay, so Mark should assume he’s straight for the sake of not embarrassing himself. Mark seems to jinx it as Yuta puts his hand on the desk and Mark sees a little rainbow ring around Yuta’s middle finger. The very small chance that Yuta just likes the rainbow goes out the window very shortly.

“I’m normally not really big on school,” Yuta begins. “But I really like art, so I was thinking we could do something that involves nature.” Mark has no idea what they are even supposed to be doing, he had sort of sucked himself into his own mind instead of listening to the details of the project.

“I’m really sorry, but I was zoning out while Ms. Gabriele was giving out instructions,” Mark admits. Now he knows he’s at least a bit pink now from embarrassment of not paying attention along with the fact that Yuta is the single most hot person on Earth.

“It’s okay, I normally don’t really listen either.” Yuta twists his ring, drawing Mark’s eye to it again. “She basically wants us to get to know each other and find out what makes us similar. Hence why she paired off students that from a visual standpoint don’t seem to go together.” Mark takes a look around the room and sees that Yuta is right, everyone is matched with their opposite.

“Right, so you want to do something with nature because nature is universal?” Mark needs to not look like an idiot, so he’ll at least listen to Yuta. 

“Yeah. There’s this one abandoned building in the woods that’s my favorite place to get inspiration,” Yuta says and Mark feels insides flare up at the words abandoned building in the woods. He can already hear his mom in his mind telling him that’s a bad idea, but she’s not here and won’t really be paying Mark too much attention. “Okay, I know that sounds a little serial killer-y, but trust me. It’s really beautiful out there.” Yuta seems so genuine, so Mark can’t help the next words that come out of his mouth.

“That sounds lovely.” 

“Lovely,” Yuta repeats. “I haven’t heard that word in a long time.” He laughs and Mark laughs along too, unsure what about the word lovely is funny. “Anyways, when are you free? This is due on the twenty sixth and I don’t really have much going on.”

“I think after school on Wednesday would be the easiest for me,” Mark says. He wishes he could say that they should go today, but he still needs to give his mom advanced notice that he won’t be home.

“Alright, sounds good.”

August 19, 2020 

Mark gives his mom a heads up on Monday, but she brushes him off and says that as long as he’s home by nine, he can do whatever. He’s surprised by how little she cares, but Mark doesn’t care as it's benefiting him.

“Ready to go?” Yuta asks after art class. It’s their last period so they simply walk outside together.

“I’m ready,” Mark confirms. He tightens the straps of his backpack out of habit and follows Yuta to the side of the school.

“I know it’s not like the coolest thing ever, but this car is my baby,” Yuta says. His car is clearly on the older side, but Mark doesn’t care, he just thinks that it's cool that Yuta has his own car.

“No, I like it,” Mark replies, climbing into the passenger seat and putting his backpack at his feet. Yuta gets in on the other side and starts the car. Mark pulls on his seatbelt and Yuta does the same. 

“It’s not too far away, don’t worry,” Yuta reassures. He seems a bit nervous for some reason that Mark doesn’t know. Yuta is tapping his fingers on the steering wheel as he drives and Mark isn’t sure if he should comment on it or not. Once again, Mark’s eyes fall onto Yuta’s ring. 

“Is there a reason you keep staring at my ring?” Yuta asks and Mark is quick to look away. “It’s not a big deal, I’m just curious. Most people will look at me and be really judgey, but normally it’s the stick ‘n poke tattoos or the piercings that make them judgmental. Sometimes it's the hair too, but no one notices the ring.” 

“I just like it,” Mark says, hoping he somehow outed himself by accident.

“I like it too,” Yuta replies with a laugh. “But I like it because I’m bi. Do you just like the rainbow or...?” There’s an unspoken question there, Yuta wants to know if Mark is queer. And Mark isn’t sure if he wants to tell Yuta, but the words come out without him thinking about them.

“Yeah, I’m gay,” Mark confesses. “But no one knows.” 

“Oh fuck, did I just accidentally make you come out?” Yuta blurts out. “Because I can pretend I didn’t hear that.” 

“It’s okay,” Mark rushes out. “I just haven’t had anyone to tell who I know is like me.” Yuta nods slowly, letting out a sigh of relief.

“Come out to who and when you want. Being outed isn’t fun and you don’t look like the type of person who’d get in a fist fight for being called a slur.” Mark laughs. He can’t help it. Even though Yuta isn’t complimenting him, it just feels so relieving to have someone to make those sort of queer-exclusive comments.

“I’m sorry for laughing,” Mark says, moving his hands so they are under his thighs. “It's just nice to feel accepted I guess. Like I totally wouldn’t get into a fist fight though. I’ve never thrown a punch and I don’t think I’m going to start now.”

“Well, feeling accepted is good.” Yuta hesitates for a moment and Mark’s brows furrow. Did he say something wrong?

“But…”

“But life is really shitty to you when you’re queer. I don’t want this to be depressing though,” Yuta finishes.

“Yeah, I know that.” Mark looks down at his knees. “At the very least, we found something that makes us similar.” Yuta smiles at that.

“That’s true. We’ll be there soon, but let's see if there’s anything else that makes us similar. So, pineapple on pizza yay or nay?”

They go through the most random questions for each other and find out that they both like the color blue the most out of the six in the rainbow (Yuta tried to argue that his favorite color was black, but Mark wasn’t having it), they both love mac & cheese, neither of them can skate, and both can appreciate the works of My Chemical Romance.

“Okay, last question; have you ever kissed anyone?” Yuta asks. Mark freezes. Because technically yes, but in actuality no.

“Yes and no,” Mark replies and Yuta shoots him a questioning glance as he parks the car. They both get out of the car and Mark tries to find the right words. “Well, in elementary school, this girl who had a crush on me came up to me, confessed and then asked to kiss me. I was like eight, so I said sure and then she gave me a kiss, but I didn’t enjoy it at all.”

“Personally, childhood kisses like that don’t count because they are pretty innocent. Unless you develop feelings later on or you already have them,” Yuta explains. “But you’re welcome to count it or not.”

“I think I’ll go with no then,” Mark decides. They walk into the woods for a few hundred feet before they reach the building. It’s like a barn house, but falling apart. The trees around it are full with no hints of leaves that will soon fall later in the year. It’s really beautiful like Yuta said, in a sort of gothic way. “Woah.”

“Yeah, pretty cool, right?” Mark nods. “Do you want to go inside?”

“Is that even safe?” Mark asks. His mom isn’t here, but he still remembers her rules of safety first.

“Don’t worry, it is. I’ve been coming here for a while and I’ve fixed it up on the inside a bit,” Yuta reassures.

The two of them walk into the barn house and Mark gasps when he sees the inside. Yuta really had fixed it up. There’s an upper loft area which seems to have pillows and blankets while the lower floor is concrete with bean bags and old couches. Everything is swept clean and it feels homey. 

“This is so cool,” Mark gushes, unable to help himself. “I totally see why you wanted me to come see this.”

“I’m really glad you like it,” Yuta replies. The barn house gets light in through a sky light, so it’s pretty dim, but it's still not nothing. “Let me show you one other thing I managed though.” Mark spins back to look at Yuta who walks over to the wall and flicks a switch. Lights hang in the rafters and illuminate the whole barn.

“Wow.” Mark looks around and drifts away from Yuta. “I definitely feel more inspired now. We could do an outside scene and subtly include the things we share in common.”

“That’s a great idea,” Yuta says, pulling down the ladder to get to the loft area. “Do you want to come up here?” Mark nods eagerly and walks over.

“I’m assuming I can just climb up, right?” Mark asks. 

“Yeah, if you’d like I can spot you as you go up,” Yuta offers.

“I think that would be smart. I’m not super clumsy but better safe than sorry,” Mark replies, taking his first step onto the ladder. Yuta is close to him, hands hovering around Mark’s waist. Mark takes two more steps and Yuta’s hands move down to right next to his thighs. An uncontrollable gay thought pops into Mark’s mind of Yuta grabbing Mark’s thighs. It’s not even that bad, but Mark doesn’t want to have gay thoughts right now when all he’s trying to do is have a good time.

Mark reaches the top of the ladder and looks around the loft area. He was right and this is basically like a little nest to nap in. Taking a seat feels weird without Yuta up here, so Mark idles until Yuta reaches the top of the ladder.

“Any thoughts?” Yuta asks, hands going into his pockets, the movement drawing Mark’s eye. He quickly looks away because he really wasn’t trying to ogle Yuta’s crotch, but it was an accident.

“I think this is really neat,” Mark replies. He feels a teeny bit hot under the collar but it’s his own fault. Genuinely, Mark is nervous he may have fucked up their friendship by looking at Yuta’s crotch which is so childish of him, people understand how eyes look at things without thinking all the time as they also have eyes, but Mark is the type to overthink things.

“Do you want to sit down or are you just going to stare all day?” Yuta asks, plopping down. The word choice there isn’t really ideal as Mark feels a little bit more awkward, but still, he sits down next to Yuta, not touching him, though not really far away either. “Why are you so nervous?” Yuta really won’t let Mark suffer in silence. Mark bites his tongue, afraid of what he’ll say if he doesn’t.

Mark crosses his legs and doesn’t reply. He really doesn’t trust his mouth right now, but that only raises Yuta’s interest even more. Yuta turns more towards Mark and puts his arm behind them, not properly wrapping it around Mark’s shoulders. Yuta leans a bit closer, lips close to Mark’s ear. Mark can feel Yuta’s breath, but not his touch and it’s making Mark squirm. He’s not uncomfortable by any means, he likes having Yuta’s attention on him, he just wishes he were more confident to make himself feel less awkward.

“I know you looked at my cock, but it’s not a big deal,” Yuta whispers and Mark’s sure his skin is on fire at this point. “I’m just curious as to why you’re so tightly wound.” Mark can’t bite his tongue any longer.

“I find you really hot,” Mark blurts out. See those are not the words that Mark was going for, but those are the ones that he said.

“Oh, really?” Yuta asks coyly, bringing his mouth away from Mark’s ear. “That would explain why you’re blushing so much.” Mark presses his thighs together, partially hoping that god will strike him down right now so he doesn’t have to live down this embarrassment. “Cat got your tongue?” Yuta’s tone is teasing and Mark knows that if he asked Yuta to stop that he would, that’s why Yuta won’t touch him. So Mark lets himself speak.

“If I let myself speak I’m going to say something that will cause me great embarrassment.” Mark spares a tiny look at Yuta who’s looking at him with hunger in his eyes. 

“Like what?” Yuta asks. He’s not being shut down in this situation, so Yuta must be at least somewhat into Mark. That’s the logical thing at least.

“I want you to touch me,” Mark whispers, voice soft, but Yuta clearly hears him as his eyes go wide. “And for you to kiss me.”

“I can do that,” Yuta says and Mark stares at him, waiting. “All you have to do is say please.”

“Please,” Mark begs. Years and years of repressed gay feelings are all coming out, so Mark thinks he’s about to burst into flames when Yuta’s hand comes to rest on his thigh. Mark tilts his head up and Yuta leans closer, lips ghosting over Mark’s before connecting them.

Mark has no idea what a first kiss is supposed to feel like. He’s heard what the movies say and how there should be fireworks, but Mark doesn’t have fireworks. All he feels is hot. Yuta’s hand moves from Mark’s thigh to his waist, pulling him closer. 

Doing his best to keep up with Yuta, Mark throws his leg over Yuta’s and pulls himself into Yuta’s lap. Yuta pulls Mark closer and latches both of his hands onto Mark’s waist. Mark breaks the kiss to kiss along Yuta’s jaw. He needs a moment to catch his breath which is much easier when he can completely control how he kisses. Yuta gasps when Mark reaches the spot between his jaw and his ear, so Mark kisses the spot again, this time biting down just a little bit. Everything that he’s seen from either movies or TV always highlights how teeth are good when it comes to giving a hickey. 

Yuta seems to approve of what Mark is doing as he mumbles bits of approval to Mark who is happy doing what he’s doing. He pulls away to admire his handiwork and lets his fingers trail over the red and purple spot. 

“I thought you said you’d never kissed anyone before,” Yuta teases and Mark wriggles in his lap, feeling hot under the attention again. 

“I’ve just seen a lot of movies and I’m a quick learner,” Mark defends. Yuta laughs and this time Mark catches a glance at a piece of metal in Yuta’s mouth. “Do you have a tongue piercing?”

“Sure do.” Yuta sticks out his tongue, giving Mark a good look at the silver barbell. 

“Wow.” Yuta closes his mouth and Mark can only stare. “Can I kiss you again?”

“Of course.” Mark leans in and kisses Yuta, now with a goal in mind. To find that nice barbell while they are kissing. And Mark finds it pretty quickly, nearly cheering in happiness. Yuta’s hand slips under the hem of Mark’s tee shirt, stroking the skin softly. He breaks the kiss and looks at Mark. “Do you want me to give you a hickey?” 

“Yes, please.” Yuta’s mouth comes down to Mark’s neck and is about to place his mark, but Mark pauses him. “Nothing visible though.”

“As you wish.” Yuta pulls on the collar of Mark’s shirt to give him more skin to bite and mare. Mark shifts himself closer to Yuta, excitement filling his veins. Yuta starts by kissing along Mark’s collarbone before latching onto a spot right underneath it. Mark’s hands go to Yuta’s hair, encouragingly tugging on it, asking for more.

“Come on, Yuta,” Mark whines. Yuta mumbles something against Mark’s skin before biting down, causing Mark to moan loudly, sound echoing in the barn. He would be embarrassed if Yuta didn’t give him no time to think about that, immediately sucking and kissing Mark’s skin, slowly trailing his lips back up to Mark’s ear where he sucks the lobe into his mouth. It’s a strangely good sensation and Mark’s stomach fills with butterflies. Yuta releases Mark’s ear and looks at him for a moment.

“Can I kiss you again?”

October 20, 2020 

“You sure you want this?” Yuta asks for the thousandth time. Mark’s really fallen into this rebellious kid phase and he’s having a blast. School work is still coming first, but he’s staying out more and even went to a party. 

Once Mark got to see Yuta shirtless at said party, he saw all of his tiny tattoos. Yuta told him how some of them had been done by his best friend, Sicheng, who Mark also met at the party. All the others were done himself because he’s saving up to get a proper one done.

And that’s how Mark ended up asking Yuta to give him one. Just a small smiley face on the side of his chest parallel with his right nipple. No one would ever see it unless Mark is shirtless and even then, his arm would need to be raised.

“I’m very sure.” Mark is over at Yuta’s house while both of his parents are gone and Yuta has his tattoo supplies. He’s laid down with his shirt off and while normally Mark would be pretty self conscious about something like that, Yuta has seen him shirtless before and told him multiple times how attractive he finds Mark.

“Okay, now this is going to hurt some,” Yuta warns. But little does Yuta know, Mark’s nerdy tendencies came in handy this time. Mark researched stick ‘n poke tattoos for four hours, so now he knows pretty much as much as anyone who has or does them, at the very least.

Yuta takes his needle and Mark braces for the first dot. He knows it’ll hurt, but he braces for it and holds his breath which makes it less painful than he thought it would be. Then the second one. That one hurts a bit more because Mark expects it, but it’s more bearable. 

It takes maybe thirty minutes before Yuta is satisfied with his work before he lets Mark look. And sure enough, there’s a small smiley face on his skin. Mark nearly cheers he’s so excited. Yuta protects the tattoo so Mark doesn’t get an infection.

“Did that hurt a lot?” Yuta asks. “I got my first one forever ago and I can barely remember it.” 

“It hurts and the area still hurts, but I feel so much adrenaline I don’t even care,” Mark explains, unsure how to word everything right.

“I’m glad you love it so much,” Yuta says, smiling. “But you gotta get your shirt on and I need to drive you back to your house.”

“Right, yes.” Mark leans down to find his shirt while Yuta gets his keys. He turns around to find Yuta leaning up against the counter, vaping. Mark doesn’t really like vaping, but he doesn’t say anything to Yuta about it because he doesn’t want to police Yuta or anything. And it’s not like he’s full on smoking, which Mark would be more against because second hand smoke is bad for himself.

“Ready?” Yuta takes another puff of the vape pen before setting it down on the counter. Part of Mark wants to ask why Yuta doesn’t try to even hide it from his parents, but that might be a touchy subject. Yuta’s never asked about Mark’s home life, which Mark is grateful for because it’s still stupid and messy and he just doesn’t want to think about it ever.

“Yeah, let’s go.”

January 5, 2021

“This is some bullshit,” Mark mutters. Whatever, he doesn’t want to think or talk about this at all. What he wants to do is hang out with Yuta since he hasn’t seen him since finals last year. Yuta told Mark he couldn’t really hang out over break which wasn’t a huge deal to him, Mark can do other things with his life, but Mark will admit that having Christmas split in half was weird. Scratch that, he straight up hated it.

On Christmas Eve, Mark went to his dad’s apartment for dinner and some presents. Since Mark’s grandparents on his dad’s side live far away, Mark didn’t get to see them this year even though there was a small chance they were gonna visit as a family. Mark got home that night and then woke up to do Christmas morning with his mom. That one felt much closer to Christmas as he grew up with it, but it still fell flat for him.

That’s still understating it. Mark cried both days because he still hates the fact that his parents are nearly divorced. Everything is sad and stupid and fuck! Mark’s mom isn’t home and won’t be home for at least another two hours, so Mark picks up his phone and dials Yuta.

“Hey Mark, what’s up?” Yuta asks. Mark has no idea where he is or what he could be doing, Mark just hopes he’s free.

“Do you want to come over? My mom is gone for a while and I’m really pissed off at someone. I could just use a break from reality,” Mark says, sighing. The anger seems out of him as he talks, but he knows it’ll be right back.

“Yeah, I’ll be there soon.” Mark hangs up the phone and leans against the wall of his kitchen. He hides the thing that’s making him mad up in his room, then kicks off his shoes and blasts music until Yuta rings his doorbell.

Mark comes down the stairs and swings open the door, feeling amped from his impromptu dancing and singing. Yuta looks him over before coming in.

“So are we going to talk about why you’re upset or am I distracting you?” Yuta asks, closing the door behind him.

“You’re gonna carry me up the stairs and make out with me while I avoid my feelings because otherwise I’m gonna go cuss out a student which is bad for my rep as a member of the student council,” Mark declares. “Okay, well, you don’t technically need to carry me but—” Yuta lifts up Mark who brings his legs around Yuta’s waist on impulse and laughs. “I guess you will carry me then.”

“Direct me to your bedroom, my king.” Mark tells Yuta where his room is, then it hits him that this is the first time that Yuta has even been inside Mark’s house. They decided to keep everything very on the down low due to Mark being closeted still. He’d considered coming out to Johnny, but now he really doesn't want to, and technically Donghyuck wouldn’t care, but Donghyuck is also Donghyuck.

“Here’s my room.” Mark opens the door from Yuta’s arms and Yuta doesn’t bother to close the door, instead laying Mark down gently on his bed. Yuta takes his shoes off before coming to sit in between Mark’s legs, leaning over him and giving him a quick kiss. Mark lets Yuta cover his whole face in kisses, causing Mark to laugh before deciding that enough is enough and capturing Yuta’s lips in a kiss.

Yuta’s hands are on either side of Mark’s body but that isn’t enough for Mark. He wraps his legs around Yuta’s waist, pulling him closer and grabbing one of Yuta’s hands to slip under his shirt. Yuta’s hand naturally holds Mark’s waist, kissing him with fervor. Besides Yuta’s tongue stud, Mark also tastes nicotine which means Yuta was vaping on his way here. It doesn’t taste good, but Mark doesn’t really care and just kisses back.

“I want to try something,” Yuta says, pulling away from Mark, who honestly needs to catch his breath. Being angry means less need for air, but not a complete lack of need for air.

“What?” Mark asks.

“I want to give you a shotgun kiss, and I know you don’t know what that is, so sit up.” Mark’s interest is piqued, so he sits up, positioning himself right in front of Yuta, knees touching.

“Tell me more.” Mark rests his head in his heads and looks at Yuta who sticks his hand in his pocket to produce his vape pen. Okay, so maybe this won’t be as hot as Mark thought it might be.

“So I take a hit from my pen and then I exhale the smoke into your mouth while our lips touch,” Yuta explains. “When I say it like that, it doesn’t sound hot, but just trust me.” 

“Alright, what the hell,” Mark decides. Yuta puts the vape pen in his mouth and takes in a breath, removes the pen, but doesn’t let any of the smoke out. Instead, he pulls Mark in close, who opens his mouth, unsure if he’s doing this right. Yuta blows the smoke in and their lips touch, but Mark pulls back and coughs nearly immediately.

“Yeah, it’s a bit weird the first time, but you did really good,” Yuta reassures.

“Thanks,” Mark coughs out. “Let’s try again once I can breathe properly again.”

Everything is going immensely well on Mark’s fourth try and he’s really proud of himself, except well, Mark’s mom shows up right as Mark sucks in the smoke and she immediately starts yelling.

“Mom what the fuck?” Mark yells back. Yuta spares him a quick glance, unsure of whether or not to leave. Well there goes coming out. Straight guys don’t really kiss other boys in their beds. Or at all.

“Watch your language,” Mark’s mom says before flicking to Yuta. “You. Get out.”

“Mom, you’re being ridiculous—”

“I am not.” Mark sighs and gets off Yuta who gives Mark an apologetic look before slipping out of Mark’s room. “You’re not allowed to see that boy again.”

“Fine,” Mark replies, not having any intention to listen to that. But his mom is pissed off enough that she storms out of there, probably to call Mark’s dad so he can be doubly lectured about why he either shouldn’t date boys or shouldn’t vape. Mark genuinely has no clue which lecture he’s gonna get and he doesn’t really care which one.

February 14, 2021

It’s finally Valentine’s Day and Mark is still ignoring his mom’s wishes to not see Yuta. He kept a low profile for a week and then she got sucked back into doing divorce stuff, so Mark sees Yuta regularly without issue.

As it turns out, Mark got a mix of don’t be gay and don’t do drugs. Considering it was about half and half, Mark has decided that neither of those would be good to follow. He doesn’t even like to vape, but he occasionally steals Yuta’s while they are together and he doesn’t seem to mind.

During fifth period, someone pulls the fire alarm. Everyone is filed out onto the football field and Mark looks around for Yuta instinctively.

“Guess who.” Two hands are placed over Mark’s eyes from behind and he smiles.

“I don’t know, maybe Taeyong?” Mark guesses, teasing Yuta. He turns around and looks at Yuta who looks worse for wear. Mark doesn’t want to say anything but Yuta has already noticed Mark’s eyes lingering. 

“I had a rough night last night,” Yuta explains. “Sicheng and Jaehyun came over because Jaehyun is having boy problems again.”

“Yeah,” Mark replies. That doesn’t explain the tract marks on Yuta’s arm which don’t look exactly old. Something in Mark’s stomach twists, he knows he shouldn’t care about Yuta making decisions that aren’t really any of his business, but Mark knows that Yuta is actively hurting himself at this point.

They hear a siren which causes kids to start swarming towards the front of the football field and out front. Of course, when there is a potential fire, the fire department is called. But there aren’t enough teachers to stop all of the students, so Mark and Yuta go with the flow until they are out in front. 

Sure enough, there’s a fire truck in front of the school which has also attracted a local news crew. Mark grabs Yuta’s hand and tries to guide them away from the camera, but it’s too late.

The camera is blinking red, poised right at Mark and Yuta, standing side by side. This looks like the end for Mark. His heart sinks and Mark tightens his grip on Yuta’s hand, trying to alert him to the issue at hand. But Yuta doesn’t get it and places a kiss on Mark’s cheek instead. Well this couldn’t have gone worse.

* * *

“Mark,” Mark’s mom says. Mark looks at her strangely and drops his backpack by the door before walking into the kitchen. 

“What is it?” Mark asks. They still aren’t really on normal talking terms, but Mark doesn’t particularly care.

“You were on the news today.” Mark tenses. Ah fuck, this isn’t going to be good. He doesn’t reply, instead waits for his mom to get on with it. “I still don’t know that boy’s name, but I saw you with him on the news. Do you not understand why he isn’t good for you?”

“You’re not really in the position to lecture me on who I date,” Mark retorts. “I still live here, but I’ll move out in four months if you can’t stand the fact that I’m gay.” Mark crosses his arms, purposefully skipping over the fact that Yuta’s drug use is starting to bother him.

“I care much more about this boy corrupting you rather than the fact that he’s a man,” Mark mom corrects. “Vaping is not good for you and I know you know this.” She raises a point, but Mark doesn’t feel like giving anything up here.

“What would you know about what’s good for me and not?” Mark asks sarcastically. “You’ve controlled me my entire life. This is the first time I get to make my own choices and if I fuck up thats on me.” Tears burn in Mark’s eyes, but he refuses to let them fall. He just wants to go to the stupid dance tonight and get drunk on spiked punch without caring. Setting aside the fact that Mark has only had alcohol a few times and he was a complete wreck after all of them.

“I am your mother.” Mark’s mom looks pissed off, and Mark feels a little bit guilty, but not guilty enough to apologize and let her. “Why do you think I’ve pushed you so hard? Because I have regrets about what I did with my life and I don’t want you to make those same mistakes.”

“Shouldn’t I still get to make some mistakes?” Mark counters. “You can’t protect me from everything clearly, so why not let me learn something?”

“I suppose you’re right.” Mark is expecting his mom to give in. He’s almost never argued with her, and when he has, he’s never won because he’s the kid in this relationship. “Mark, can I show you something?”

“Yeah,” Mark replies, a little uncertain. 

“My parents didn’t really give me enough supervision as a kid and teenager, so when I was eighteen, a senior like you are now, I got a tramp stamp.” Mark’s eyes go wide. His mom is probably the least likely woman he knows besides his grandma to have a tramp stamp. Mark’s mom turns around and lifts the back of her shirt. It's faint, but sure enough, there’s a faded black and red tattoo. She turns back around to Mark. “I technically can’t stop you, but whoever that guy is has the exact same look as the boyfriend that convinced me to do that. And I regret it so so much. I’ve gotten laser treatments, but there’s only so much that it can do.”

“Well fuck,” Mark mumbles, laughing under his breath as the first tears fall. “I didn’t do that but…” Mark lifts his shirt and his arm, showing off the little smiley face tattoo that’s finally healed.

“Oh, Mark,” his mom says. “Do you see why I don’t want you dating that boy anymore?”

“Yeah, I see it.” Mark sighs. “But you’re not mad about the tattoo?”

“It’s a tiny smiley face, you’re not gonna regret that,” Mark’s mom reassures. “You could have gotten something much worse, so I’m more grateful it’s not a name or something that looks bad.”

“That’s a relief, but I do have to confess something here,” Mark begins. “I don’t really want to date Yuta anymore. I think he’s doing heroin and it’s freaking me out. Vaping is one thing and I don’t do it, but it’s just— it’s not where I really want to be.”

“Then break up with him.” Mark nods.

“I think I’m going to do that, but tonight, I think I just want to lay on the couch and watch movies if that’s okay,” Mark says.

“That’s more than okay and I know that dance is tonight, but you can say I grounded you or something to get out of any obligations you may have.” Mark smiles. Not fighting with his mom has already relieved some of the pressure in his chest. Hopefully this means that Mark can finally come to grips about his parents' marriage ending. Things are at least looking up now.

“Thank you, Mom.” 

**Author's Note:**

> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/occultclysms)   
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